1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to input devices of character data, and more specifically to an input device of character data in electronic apparatuses of compact or simple type.
2. Prior Art
In various sorts of electronic devices containing a microcomputer therein, it is preferable that the variety of input keys in use be limited to the irreducible minimum necessary. Consequently a method is widely adopted where one key has plural input functions which are properly changed at the input operation state. However, this method has limitations when characters, such as Japanese "kana" characters, Chinese characters or the like, are inputted using a small number of keys. Particularly when the frequency of inputting the characters is relatively small or when the inputted characters may be small in number, a number of keys and complicated operation are not preferable.